Lester not about to second-guess

BOSTON — Once again, Jon Lester pitched effectively but unevenly. Once again, Lester walked off the mound with the body language of a pitcher who was less than satisfied with the way he pitched.

Brian MacPherson Journal Sports Writer brianmacp

BOSTON — Once again, Jon Lester pitched effectively but unevenly. Once again, Lester walked off the mound with the body language of a pitcher who was less than satisfied with the way he pitched.

On the whole, however, Lester pronounced himself satisfied with the afternoon.

“A win is a win,” he said. “I’m not going to overanalyze anything.”

That’s not surprising. He’d drive himself crazy if he tried.

What has been a perplexing season for Lester didn’t get any less perplexing Wednesday afternoon. Lester struck out four and didn’t walk anyone — the third time this season he has not issued a walk. He’s walking fewer hitters this season than he has in any season of his career. He’s doing, in other words, what he spent two or three spring trainings promising to do.

“It’s more or less just trusting the stuff that I’ve got better stuff and see what happens,” he said. “I’d rather give up a hit and make them earn it than walk them.”

But Lester also yielded four earned runs in seven innings pitched, boosting his ERA to 4.53. Three of those home runs came on home runs — a two-run shot by Edwin Encarnacion into the Green Monster seats and a solo shot by Jose Bautista that imperiled the Mass Pike.

“I thought he was very good,” Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said. “He did exactly what we needed to win a ball game. His 100 pitches were all quality. I think he got to the middle of the plate on a couple pitches where he had a big lead, gave up some home runs. But you’ve got to like what you saw today.”

Both home runs Lester allowed came at a time the Red Sox were winning handily, a situation in which Lester was naturally going to throw the ball over the plate than risk issuing a walk. The home run Bautista hit came on a 3-2 fastball Lester threw right down the middle.

“In that situation, I’m not going to give in to him,” the lefty said. “We’re up 7-1 in the fourth. (On) 3-2, I’m going to challenge him and take my chances.”

Just as was the case 10 days ago in Chicago, the home-run ball ruined what otherwise was the type of outing the Red Sox expect from Lester. After a bad-luck first inning — he gave up an RBI single on a five-hopper that skipped off the glove of a diving Dustin Pedroia up the middle — Lester cruised through the middle innings.

Relying heavily on his changeup, Lester retired 16 of 17 hitters before a Bautista double and the Encarnacion home run in the sixth inning. Eight of those outs came via the ground ball, three via strikeout.

His use of his changeup only caught up to him when Encarnacion whacked one over the Green Monster.

“You can always second-guess when something bad happens, but I may have thrown one too many to Encarnacion,” he said. “We had gotten him out with it a couple of times before. … Getting early outs with it, early contact, that’s all you can ask for with that pitch for me.”

It’s been that type of season for Lester. One pitch has often turned a good outing into a mediocre outing — or a mediocre outing into a bad outing. He has the second-best strikeout-to-walk ratio he’s had since he became a full-time starter in 2008 — but he also has the worst ERA he’s had in that time.

As Lester got ready to jump on the team plane to head to Seattle, he was asked whether he was more satisfied with the way he pitched Wednesday or that the team won. Even in trying to brush off the question, he answered it. He’s still not quite pitching the way he expects to pitch.

“We’re overanalyzing things now,” he said. “A win is a win, no matter how you look at it.”